Discriminatory ads will soon be a thing of the past with Facebook. Facebook said it has removed more than 5,000 ad-targeting categories to limit the ability of advertisers to exclude users based on ethnicity or religion. Until now, when an advertiser created an ad for Facebook, a tab “to exclude persons who correspond more or Read more
The itinerant Irish Traveller community today is strong, Missy Collins told the World Meeting of Families (WMoF) on Saturday. Speaking at the WMoF event in Dublin on Saturday, Collins said Travellers are “a people who have experienced injustice and persecution and are forced often out onto the margins of society, who found their strength in God Read more
Pope Francis says his trip to the World Meeting of Families in Ireland was a mixed bag of joy and sorrow. He came face to face with the joy exuded by families of all ages who turned out for the papal events, as well as the pain of those impacted by the abuses perpetrated by Read more
Australia’s first Pentecostal prime minister Scott Morrison and his family are members of the Sutherland Shire’s Horizon Church in Sydney. Housed in a 1200-seat auditorium, Horizon is a Pentecostal Christian church where pastors give rousing sermons, and followers can sometimes speak in tongues and engage in “divine healing”. Read more
A Skoda was the car of choice used to transport Pope Francis when he visited Ireland for the World Meeting of Families last weekend. Not even a posh Skoda: a humble Rapid hatchback, with a 1.0-litre engine. Four Rapid 1.0 TSI petrol models were supplied by Skoda as part of the Papal fleet. The primary Read more
Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar says religion should not be at the centre of society. Speaking on the weekend as Pope Francis made his first visit to Ireland, Varadkar noted since the last papal visit in 1979, Ireland has become more diverse. It is less religious and has modernised its laws on divorce, contraception, Read more
A newly published study by the Pew Research Center shows Christians in Africa and Latin America tend to pray more frequently, attend religious services more regularly and consider religion more important in their lives than Christians elsewhere in the world. But the United States also have comparatively high levels of committed Christians. The study analysed Read more
An Extraordinary Synod on life and the ministry of clergy is being sought by an English bishop. Bishop Philip Egan says his suggestion was prompted by the recent scandals of clerical sexual abuse. “Clerical sex abuse seems to be a world-wide phenomenon in the Church,” Egan says in his letter. “As a Catholic and a Read more
There is no such thing as a normal marriage Cardinal Vincent Nichols told the World Meeting of Families in a keynote address. “Everyone is different” and all married couples will go through periods of difficulty. Fragility and brokenness are part of that. Couples and families often need resources and support, Nichols said, although they should Read more
Youcat – a new version of the youth catechism – was launched at the World Meeting of Families (WMoF) in Ireland last week. Archbishop Christoph Schönborn of Vienna stressed the youth catechism, which has been adapted for young children, is a “faith book not Facebook.” It will be an important resource for children and their Read more